This just in from Cally Callomon:
On August the 18th – 21st in the fair county of Eastfolk (between the Nor and Suff Olks) there rises a Brigadoon of a Folk Festival, unabashed by that four-lettered F word. Unlike many such events Folk East has tons of room to roam and space to think quite apart from the multifarious workshops and Instrument builders, there is as much song-and-dance as there are ‘headline acts’… And what of these folk of the main stages? This year we have Eliza Carthy and her Wayward Band, the wonderful Chris Wood, Rura from the far north, Peter Knight, John Spiers, Blowzabella from over the water, and an entire contingency of ex Planxtymen from Ireland, Festival Patrons The Young’uns and tons more, but that’s to miss the point: Visitors will get as much out of the Dwile Flonking, the sports day, the food village, the bazaar, Nick Hand and his amazing Print Bike, the three stages of music, the Molly and the Morris and the hunting of the Jackalope. The Kinidrome shows films all weekend including ‘A Field In England’ in a field, in England, (you don’t get much more ‘immersive’ than that).
Folk East is about as close as one can get to the Barsham, Rougham and Bungay Horse Fairs of old and the fifth edition of the Eastfolk Chronicle will be on sale (price: nil pence) all weekend as well as a well stocked shop selling all manner of booty including those Caught by the River books and Rivertones records you always meant to buy. The prices are decent too, as are the pies. There are three pubs, one being the smallest pub in the world, selling only the very best local ales.
Folk East sits in the secluded grounds of Glemham Hall, camping takes place in rolling green fields or tucked inside woods and for some four days we are back in Eastfolk, a county that refused to secede from the European Union, a county of bounty and shared wealth. Your kids will love it. In the 1930s the banked race circuit that was Brooklands adopted the motto ’The right crowd and no crowding’ which has been adopted for Folk East. Come and get away from ‘it all’ and have a bit of a to-do. For greater detail, if greater detail be needed: have look at www.folkeast.co.uk